Description
Pullman's Dust is a fictional form of dark matter, an elementary particle that is of fundamental importance. It is invisible to the human eye and cannot be seen without the use of special instruments, such as the amber spyglass or a special film. While humans cannot see Dust without the use of outside devices, creatures such as the mulefa are able to see dust with their own eyes.
Unlike ordinary particles, Dust is conscious. It falls from the sky, is attracted to people, and wears off onto objects made by people. This makes it of great interest to the Church, which believes that it may be the physical manifestation of Original Sin. It is later learned that Dust actually confers consciousness, knowledge, and wisdom, and that Dust is formed when matter becomes conscious. This allows creatures who have the ability to see Dust to identify other sentient and intelligent creatures. An example of this is when the mulefa are able to distinguish Mary Malone as an intelligent being (compared to the other animals), because of the Dust surrounding her. Dust is life and the living essence of everything from the play 'His Dark Materials' and 'The Golden Compass.' Dust is also the thing that connects humans to their dæmons. This being is the physical manifestation of the soul that can talk and is in the form of an animal. It sends the Dust to the human to allow the human consciousness. Even in worlds whose people lack apparent dæmons, they still exist, though they typically do not take the form of animals. In some worlds, one's dæmon is the silent consciousness in the back of one's head, that other voice that confers intuition. If the bond between a child and their dæmon is severed (as through Intercision), both the child and the dæmon will eventually die. If the separation occurs after Dust has settled on the person (that is, after he or she has reached adolescence), the person simply becomes a lifeless shell.
It is Dust that provides the answers given by the alethiometer, the I Ching system of divination and also the computer that Dr. Mary Malone creates in order to communicate directly with these particles by using one's consciousness.
Dust has various names among the various worlds within the trilogy. Dust was previously known (in Lyra Belacqua's universe) as Rusakov particles after their discoverer, Boris Mikhailovitch Rusakov. It is known also as Shadows in our world (Pullman relates Dust to dark matter), and the mulefa's word sraf accompanied by a leftward flick of the trunk (or arm for humans).
Angels are formed when Dust condenses. Nevertheless, Angels are not in reality the human-like figures they appear to be. They are the physical manifestation of spirit making something 'be'. Because consciousness is the thing that makes us "sin", it can (in theory) be seen as original sin. This is the point of view seen by the Magisterium, and therefore they seek to destroy it. However, they fail to see what the full repercussions of this would be, as they are ignorant to the true nature of Dust. Eliminating it would mark the end of consciousness.
Read more about this topic: Dust (His Dark Materials)
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